Battle Through the Heavens

Rolling thunder continued to reverberate over this vast, azure sky. The thick clouds gave one an extremely pressurizing feeling.

“Bang!”

A silver-colored giant-python-like bolt of lightning suddenly tore through the sky from the thick, dark cloud. It explosively rushed down before being forcefully received by a human figure on a stone platform. Immediately, a substance-like pill fragrance spread apart…

“Ha ha, I have succeeded!”

That man, whose hair was a little white, laughed wildly at the sky in front of everyone’s eyes. His hand held a dragon-eye-sized medicinal pill that was emitting an alluring luster.

None of those present reprimanded this man, who had lost himself and laughed out loud. Instead, there was an additional heat in their eyes as they looked at him. An alchemist grandmaster, who could refine a tier 7 middle grade medicinal pill would definitely receive VIP treatment no matter where he went.

Currently, the Pill Gathering had entered its last stages. At this moment, there were only two types of people still continuing to refine medicinal pills. The first type were those who truly possessed great talent while the other type were those simply making up the numbers. Of course, in this kind of situation, the first group held the majority. After all, there were very few people with faces thick enough to embarrass themselves in this kind of event.

If one were to carefully count the number of pill fires still rising on the stone platforms, one would find that there were still thirty-six left. In other words, there were still thirty-six competitors focused on preparing the medicinal pill that they were best at with great care.

These thirty-six people naturally included Xiao Yan, Cao Ying, Old Mu Gu, Dan Chen, and the other competitors who were viewed as the people with the most potential to become this Pill Gathering’s champion.

Xiao Yan sat on his stone platform. Rolling thunder reverberating in the air had already been filtered out by him. All of his focus had been thrown into the medicinal cauldron.

A jade-green flame was fiercely burning within the medicinal cauldron. The hot temperature caused the Pill cauldron to appear a little red. All of this, however, was not the target of Xiao Yan’s focus. His eyes had been staring at the slowly rotating spherical object within the flame…

This so-called spherical object was naturally something that was the merger of over a hundred types of medicinal essences. However, this thing shrank from the size of a fist to the size of a pigeon egg. Moreover, its shape was becoming rounder within the burning flame.

An energy ripple that caused Xiao Yan to feel shocked was vaguely being formed following the gradual shrinking of this spherical object. This kind of ripple had already exceeded that of an ordinary tier 7 peak grade medicinal pill.

Xiao Yan’s heart was filled with joy over this kind of change. The current him was confident that he could raise the Bone Growing Blood Fusing Pill to the eighth tier!

Xiao Yan suppressed the slight excitement within his heart and hurriedly stabilized his mind. Currently, he was in the most crucial moment. He could not afford to lose even the slightest focus…

The faces of everyone on the other stone platforms were also filled with grave expressions while Xiao Yan was refining his medicinal pill with all his effort. The faces of some of them had even revealed a paleness. Clearly, this kind of exhaustion was really something that they had difficulty enduring.

“Bang!”

A certain part of the sky suddenly emitted a low, deep explosion in front of the eyes of a countless number of people. The hearts of everyone immediately sank. Their gazes swiftly flew over, only to see a middle-aged man staring at the medicinal cauldron in front of him with a stunned expression. There was a chaotic energy ripple being emitted from within. Clearly, an unexpected situation had occurred during the refinement…

“How is this possible…”

The middle-aged man was dull as he looked at the medicinal cauldron. His eyes instantly turned blood-red. He had worked hard for twenty plus days only for all his effort to go to waste. This kind of blow was really a little too difficult for him to endure.

Everyone quietly sighed within their hearts as they watched the dull expression of the middle-aged man. They felt a little regretful for this person.

Failure was not rare when it came to pill refinement. However, a slight failure at this moment would decide if one would lose the qualification to compete with the other experts.

There were those who were happy and those who were anxious. If there were those who succeeded, there would naturally be those who failed. The Pill Gathering had never been a stage for comedy to be performed.

During the remaining time, there were people continuously refining a medicinal pill successfully among the thirty plus people who remained. Of course, there were also those who failed. All of these people who failed became a lot more dispirited without exception. Although they might not be able to obtain the top ten position even if they were to refine their pills successfully, there would, at the very least, have been a chance. However, if they failed in their refinement, they would not have even the slightest chance…

The competitors who could still remain at this moment were people who could definitely be compared with some of the Elders of the Pill Tower. Some of the top experts were even at a level that the Pill Tower’s Elders were far from being able to match.

The moods of a countless number of people in the stadium were growing better during this period of time. Within the blink of an eye, a competitor, whom they viewed as the dark horse of this Pill Gathering, might end up failing his refinement due to some small mistake, losing his qualification to continue competing within the blink of an eye…

At this time, they realized that refining pills was something that ordinary people couldn’t do.

Another five days quietly passed amid the anticipation of a countless number of gazes.

Nine people had successfully refined their medicinal pills during these five days. The highest grade medicinal pill was a tier 7 high grade medicinal pill. This medicinal pill had immediately attracted Pill Lightning when it appeared. The continuous sound of roaring thunder caused quite a number of people to feel afraid.

The one who had successfully refined this medicinal pill was an old man with an elderly face. This person likely had some reputation on the continent. Hence, it was not too surprising that he was able to be the first to refine a tier 7 high grade medicinal pill.

Of course, with some people succeeding, it was only natural that some people failed. Nine people succeeded during these five days while seven others failed. They chose to withdraw with great unwillingness in front of many pitiful eyes.

Following the withdrawal of these sixteen people, and the competitors who had withdrew earlier due to some reasons, there were only seventeen people who remained on the stone platforms refining pills…

The filter of time was extremely accurate. Currently, the seventeen remaining people, judging from their auras, were definitely not ordinary individuals. The lowest tier badge on their chests was that of a tier 7 middle grade alchemist. The highest tier was surprisingly a genuine tier 8 alchemist guru!

This tier 8 alchemist was someone that Xiao Yan was extremely unfamiliar with. Moreover, he had never paid attention to this person in the past. Clearly, this person had purposefully hid his aura.

This unfamiliar tier 8 alchemist was a gray-haired, old man. His elderly face was like an orange peel. Clearly, he should also be an expert from the older generation. Although his outer appearance was lacking, his face was always covered in a warm smile, giving him a more pleasing appearance than Old Mu Gu.

Time was the best filter. It was able to eliminate those lacking from the thousands of competitors and allow those true experts to remain.

“It is unexpected that Old Qing Hua has survived…”

Xuan Kong Zi’s group on the tall stage looked at the gray-haired, old man that had finally been revealed from the sea of people. They were slightly startled and immediately looked at each other. All of them felt a little helpless.

“This old fellow can really embarrass himself… looking at the fluctuations within his medicinal cauldron, it is likely a tier 8 medicinal pill.” The pretty woman gently nodded as she spoke.

“The most cherished wish of this old fellow is to obtain a type of Heavenly Flame. Back then, he and Yao Chen had remained in that terrible place for a number of years. However, Yao Chen was still the one who found the Bone Chilling Flame. He would naturally come and give it a try now that he had an opportunity to obtain the Three Thousand Burning Flame.” The dark-skinned elder reminisced.

Xuan Kong Zi helplessly shook his head. After which, his eyes suddenly turned to a certain stone platform. A black-clothed Old Mu Gu was focusing his attention and refining his medicinal pill at that spot.

“This person’s aura has remained hidden even now. Moreover, his face seems to have been altered. I wondered just who that expert is?”

“Could it be the disguise of some old fellow who is unwilling to embarrass himself?” The pretty woman knit her eyebrows and wondered aloud.

“No idea. However, he will definitely be unable to hide his aura once the medicinal pill embryonic form was created. At that time, one will know with a glance… it is alright as long as he is not a member of the Hall of Souls.”

The pretty woman and the rest nodded upon hearing this.

A wild wind whistled over the azure sky. The dark clouds had scattered. However, rolling thunder continued to appear for an unknown amount of time…

This strange scene caused quite a number of people to quietly feel stunned. However, everyone with some experience was aware that these thunderous sounds did not fall from the sky. Instead, they were emitted from the medical cauldrons on the stone platforms…

“Bang!”

A low, deep sound suddenly appeared. Before everyone could hurriedly shift their eyes, they sensed a majestic energy ripple suddenly surge from the stone platform in a lightning-like fashion. Following the surging of this energy, the dark clouds in the sky instantly gathered as a countless number of silver snakes wiggled in all directions.

“It’s Song Qing!”

Some of the sharp-eyed people finally saw Song Qing, who had been seated cross-legged, suddenly stand up. He looked at the thick, dark clouds in the sky with high spirits. This was clearly his doing!

The Pill Lightning that appeared this time around was even wilder and more violent compared to any of the earlier Pill Lightnings. This was enough to cause him to feel proud.

“It is actually a tier 7 peak grade medicinal pill! Looks like its quality is even higher than the tier 7 peak grade medicinal pill that appeared earlier.”

Song Qing raised his hand slowly amid the backdrop of lightning all over the sky. An unusually round medicinal pill, like a bright night pearl, was lifted high up!

The Pill Lightning in the sky appeared at this moment!

Upon hearing the exclamations of the many people mixed with the loud thunder, a wild smile was slowly lifted on his face. Immediately, his gaze, that contained slight provocation, shot to a distant stone platform. That spot was where Xiao Yan was located!